French trio Hypnotic Wheels received the Charles Cros Academy Coup de Coeur award, on Wednesday, March 1, 2018, in the World Music Creations category, for Muddy Gurdy, their second album, released on February 2, 2018, by American label VizzTone. The ceremony was held during the Aah! Les Déferlantes! festival, in Portes-Lès-Valence, in the Drôme department in France.
Tia Gouttebel (guitar, vocals), Gilles Chabenat (hurdy gurdy), Marc Glomeau (percussion, background vocals) went to record the album in North Mississippi Hill Country and in the Delta during the Spring of 2017, accompanied by Pierre Bianchi (sound engineer). They invited prestigious musicians to discover the hurdy gurdy and play with them: Cedric Bunside, grandson of R.L. Burnside, Shardé Thomas, granddaughter of Otha Turner, Cameron Kimbrough, grandson of Junior Kimbrough, and Pat Thomas, son of James ‘Son’ Thomas.
The full palmares is on charlescros.org.
The Academy was created in 1947 in honor of Charles Cros (1842-1888), a self-taught inventor who was part of the pioneers in the world of the recording, who was also a poet, friend of Arthur Rimbaud and Paul Verlaine.
The specialists at the Academy listen, all year long, to the new releases as soon as they come out. Once a year, sometimes twice, they select discs which, according to themn « particularly deserve to be brought to the attention of the public. » With this precision: « Excellence of interpretation, innovative works, forgotten repertoires, new interpreting talents, audacity or editorial courage… are all taken into account » for the Coups de Coeur. These Coups de Coeur are automatically entered in the preselection of the discs submitted to the yearly Grands Prix (Grand Prize) Charles Cros, which have been presented since 1948.